A Jinchuriki's Path
by Hungry AL
Summary: Naruto has been put on Team Ten With Asuma, Shikamaru and...Hinata. Naruto is going to be smarter and stronger than canon but not by any huge amount. Trying to start him off slightly dumber than then in the anime and build up to being better


A/N: well first time uploading something to ...reviews would be nice constructive criticism would be especially helpful to let me know if im doing something right wrong or too fast...this chapter as i wrote it felt like i was going too fast i guess i just wanted to get everything set up and didn't really want to have to set everything up...anyway, hope you enjoy my first fic :)

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><p>"Team One..."<p>

…Was about as long as Naruto lasted while waiting for team callouts before his head hit the desk in boredom. While there he thought about how he had managed to pass the Genin exam thanks to Iruka passing him due to his seemingly natural mastery of the kage bunshin no jutsu…and also beating up the traitor Mizuki who tried to kill Naruto because of the kyuubi (9 tailed demon fox). Looking back it would explain a lot of things, from how everyone seemed to look down on him no matter how polite he tried to be and how come shops nearly always threw him out as soon as he tried to shop anywhere except Ichiraku's ramen stand. It was also the reason he was stuck in the horrible orange jumpsuit. It was a gift given to him by the most powerful ninja in the village, the Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. Seriously, why couldn't he pick a colour that wasn't an instant eyesore whenever someone looked at him? He had to admit though, it was helpful when he painted the Hokage monuments faces before leading a chase all through the village that finally ended when Iruka-sensei caught him. He was soon brought out of his daydream upon hearing his self-proposed rivals' name.

"…Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka and Shino Aburame, your Jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake"

'Ah well, at least I'm not on the teme's team' (A/N: make sense?) thought Naruto

"Team Eight consists of Sakura Haruno, Choji Akimichi and Kiba Inuzuka, your Jonin sensei is Kurenai Yuhi"

'When is my team gonna be called out, it has to be soon, hope Iruka hasn't forgotten that he graduated me last night' thought a slightly panicking Naruto

"And because Team Nine is already being used as 'Team Guy' we won't use that number"

'Man I feel sorry for the students with him as a sensei' thought a slightly shuddering Iruka

"Team Ten Consists of Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuga, your Jonin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi."

'Yes I'm on Naruto's team' thought Hinata before doing the victory dance in her head she had prepared if she got on his team. She would later follow through with the dance, but in the comfort of her own room so people wouldn't think she was weird… well, weirder than she currently was.

'Sigh, I'm not on Sakura's team, but I suppose I'm not on Sasuke's team so that's something to be grateful for' thought a slightly bored Naruto.

'Team selections, how troublesome' thought the obviously lazy, pineapple haired Shikamaru.

"Okay, now you all know your teams and who is going to be leading them you all have a break of about one hour to get to know each other better, I suggest you use this time well, after all, you are now all ninja's of the hidden leaf village…" Iruka started to launch into a long boring speech.

*THUMP*

'Oh Naruto' thought his pale-eyed teammate

:::

As the teams filed back into the room the smoking, bearded Sensei for team ten was going over what he had observed during the lunch break. 'Well Hinata and Shikamaru seem to listen to what Iruka said and got to know each other a bit better. I wonder why Naruto immediately went off to challenge Sasuke, at least getting his butt handed to him might take him down a few pegs and think before he goes off and attacks someone…unless this is a regular thing for him. Ah well, if that's the case thank Kami I don't have both of them on the same team or that would be a complete and utter nightmare. I can't imagine why dad gave me one of the top ranking kunoichi who happens to be the heiress to the Hyuga clan. I don't think I'm going to have to work with her too much, excellent chakra control with a certain degree of knowledge of her family's taijutsu style. I'm not sure if she can do too much nin- or genjutsu but at least she has the control down pat. Of course I had to be stuck with with the laziest shinobi since Shikaku - his son Shikamaru. Apparently he fell asleep during his test so ended up doing only marginally better than Naruto in book smarts. He hasn't really shown any tai or genjutsu skill but without a doubt he'll know some of his families' clans ninjutsu techniques. On top of that they had to give me the dead last Uzumaki…chakra control is shoddy at the best of times, hopeless in the strategy department, couldn't dispel a genjutsu to save his life and taijutsu is so messy it's a wonder he even passed. Pretty much the only thing going for him is his massive chakra reserves which must be due to the demon fox being sealed within him. That must be the reason for his terrible chakra control. Hmm, I'm definitely going to be showing him some chakra control techniques as soon as possible although I expect the others to master wall walking fairly quickly. Wait, better not plan too far ahead, they still have to pass my test.' At this the bearded sensei smirked before moving to collect his team. After walking into the room glancing at all the genin and singling out the ones his squad would be composed of he simply stated.

"Team ten come with me"

As Team Ten walk out of the classroom he turned to his squad, "How about we go to my favourite BBQ restaurant to get to know each other better? I'll even pay"

"How about we get ramen instead? I mean, BBQ is good and all but nothing can compare to the delicious noodles that Old man Ichiraku can create! RAMEN!"

"No, I can tell your nuts about ramen but this time at least we're going for BBQ, maybe next time" the next part Asuma said quietly "…if you pass my test"

"Hmm? You say something Asuma-sensei?"

"Nothing Naruto, nothing at all. Hey you two, thought of what you want from the BBQ?"

"I-I'll have a l-look on t-the menu when we g-get there" said the timid Hinata.

"I'll just have whatever everyone else is getting; it's too troublesome to look at the menu"

As they walked Naruto slowly walked closer to Hinata who was starting to turn a light shade of pink at being so close to her crush before Naruto said "Hey Hinata, I've noticed your really quiet all the time. Would you mind speaking up a bit? It's kind of hard to hear you with your fingers covering your mouth all the time and your stuttering doesn't help all that much either"

Hinata looked fairly downcast at this while turning a slightly redder colour at being so close to her long time crush.

"O-o-ok N-Naruto, I-I g-guess I can t-try"

Naruto grinned at this "Thanks Hinata" before walking ahead with his hands held behind his head

Asuma asked "uh Naruto, you do know the restaurant is right here?"

As Naruto walked back grinning sheepishly "I guess I just wasn't paying attention sensei"

"Sigh, just get in here and get some BBQ"

As they were seated and a waitress had taken their order Asuma started with a talk he had thought about to get to know he's team a little better "while we wait for food why don't we get to know each other a little better?"

Naruto asked with a confused look on his face "Wha-da-ya mean sensei?"

*sighs* "I'll just give you an example then. My name is Asuma Sarutobi, I like shogi, BBQ and smoking. I dislike unnecessary fighting and when my father tries to give me missions that take more than 3 months to complete. My fighting style uses my specially designed trench knives which I can channel my chakra into to make them more dangerous. I don't expect you guys to have too much in the way of your personal style, so dream for the future will do as a replacement. Ok Blondie, you're up"

Scowling slightly at the jab at his hair colour Naruto continued with "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, I like ramen, especially the ramen at Ichiraku ramen stand, and spending time on top of the Hokage monument. I dislike how long instant ramen takes to cook, being called the ''dobe" of the class and how Sasuke-teme thinks he is so much better than everyone else." A frown appeared on his face at his last comment before he continued with a smile on his face" And I dream of one day becoming the Hokage so people will actually respect me instead of treating me like dirt constantly. It would also be nice if I to meet a childhood friend who I haven't seen since she started training at the academy and if I could learn who my parents were, I may never find out who they were though so I try not to focus on who they were too much" he finishes with a smile

"Sleepyhead, your next"

"Pass"

"Sorry Shikamaru everyone has to do this and it just so happens I picked you next"

*sigh* "Ok fine, my name is Shikamaru Nara, I enjoy sleeping, cloud watching because of how relaxing it is, and shogi apparently just like Asuma. I dislike my mothers' tactics to get me motivated to do more than get out of bed to go to the academy every day and people who are loud, annoying or both. I don't really have any dreams for the future, might learn my clans' jutsu, possibly get married and have a few kids eventually, doesn't really matter to me. Mediocre is what I'm aiming for really" Shikamaru finishes with a shrug before dropping his head on the table to try and go back to sleep.

"Ok last up, Top kunoichi" Asuma says with a slight smirk

"Wow, Hinata was top kunoichi? Way to go!" Naruto shouts loudly enough for the entire restaurant to hear

"Y-y-yes N-Naruto" Hinata says with a small smile and a blush on her face

"ANYWAY!" Asuma says slightly annoyed at the interruption "Hinata, if you would like to start your introduction?"

"H-hai sensei, my n-name is Hinata Hyuga, I like f-flower pressing, my little s-sister Hanabi and…a… c-certain s-s-shinobi." At this she glances at Naruto with a medium blush on her face, well medium for her "I dislike my f-families caged b-bird curse s-seal and when m-my father calls me w-weak, even when I am t-trying my b-best. I hope to o-one day u-u-unite both the m-main house and the b-branch h-houses so m-my family can a-a-actually be just that, a f-family. I a-a-also h-hope to c-catch the a-attention of t-that c-certain shinobi I m-m-mentioned e-earlier." She finishes with a bright blush coating her face, even though the object of her affections is completely oblivious as he had spotted the waiter carrying lunch.

'It looks like Hinata has a crush on the loudmouthed idiot, let's just hope she isn't the fangirl type, although she does seem to take her ninja training seriously. Maybe I can use that to motivate them to become very powerful…although it seems Shika here has no intention of becoming stronger or to prove himself, that could lead to problems if he becomes lax and falls too far behind the others…wait, I keep having to remind myself that they might not pass, but this team could easily go far…' thought Asuma as he begun to cook the BBQ on the hot plate.

Looking around the table, Asuma could see that Hinata kept stealing glances at the blonde next to her, even though he had his eyes stapled to the delicious looking meat cooking in front of him with a small amount of drool hanging out the side of his mouth. Shika had his head on the table and was either asleep or pretending to be.

After the meal Asuma decided to break the bad news that they had only passed the first test to become a genin. "I'm sorry to have to say this to you guys, but there is just one more test you guys need to complete before you become full-fledged genin."

"WHAT!"

"B-b-but w-we p-passed the t-t-test…"

"Hmm…troublesome"

Asuma then explained "Well, of the graduates that passed, only 3 teams actually get to become a full genin squad. The rest are sent back to the academy for further training or in the majority of cases, quit to become civilians and just take up other employment. Now as two of you are from major clans, and the last squad member has more determination than I have ever seen out of a fresh genin, chances are none of you wish to fail my next test too badly. Also one last thing, if you have breakfast tomorrow chances are your stomach wont handle it, so trust me when I say just skip it. Meet me tomorrow at training ground 12 around 7:00 AM"

:::

_(Time skip: next morning 6:45)_

Hinata and Naruto had already gathered at the training field a little before schedule and were waiting for the other two teammates to turn up. Naruto was simply laying down looking up at the sky with his hands behind his head while Hinata was sitting on a nearby log, with a tiny blush on her face at being along with her crush.

'This awkward silence is killing me, but what can I say to start a conversation? Thinking about that, why is he being so quiet? He is normally so full of energy and bounding around. Is he being quiet because he can't stand being around me or something…Ok, calm down Hinata, you're making it seem worse than what it actually is. Ok just go over and say something to him, anything, at least you'll be talking to him then'

As she got up to walk over to him hundreds of greeting flew through her mind trying to come up with something that wouldn't make him think she was weird or something when she finally got there all her lines simply vanished and she stood there extremely nervous especially since Naruto heard her and turn to look at her with a small smile on his face. "Hey Hinata, something you wanna ask me?" Hinata froze on the spot shaking slightly before answering with "Uh-um, w-w-would y-you m-mind if I-I j-joined y-y-you?"

Hinata mentally facepalms herself _'real smooth there Hinata'_

'Hey, I wasn't expecting a question and if he says yes I get to lie next to him'

'_Yeah and if he says no you're just going to seem like a complete weirdo…'_

"Yeah sure Hinata, I just was remembering what Shikamaru said yesterday how he enjoys cloud watching and thought I would give it a go, kind of boring but I can see what he means when he said it was relaxing." After hearing what Naruto was doing Hinata simply lays down next to him. After lying next to each other for a few minutes Naruto says "Uh Hinata, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Uh, s-sure N-n-n-Naruto-kun"

Not even noticing the honorific "Why are your eyes a pale lavender colour?"

'He really doesn't know very much, does he?'

'_Just part of the reason you like him, that coupled with those whisker marks make him look SO CUTE!'_

Blushing as she agreed with her inner self, she continued "I'm part of the Hyuga clan who have a special k-kekkei-genkai called the bya-byakugan. If we develop it properly, it allows us to see a near 360 degree field of v-vision and can see through a person's body right down to the chakra network. M-My eyesight can also be f-focused in one direction to scout up ahead, while not being able to see the n-normal near 360 d-degrees it certainly does help in search and r-rescue missions."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive, I wish I could look in almost every direction without having to turn my head. Hey you also stuttered a lot less, good job!" congratulated Naruto.

"W-Well I p-p-pretty m-much have my b-bloodline limit m-me-memorised, so i-it's a lot easier t-to say w-w-without s-stuttering"

"Maybe you should memorise everything before you say it, you sound a lot nicer when you're not stuttering" he says with a kind smile

"T-t-thank y-you n-Naruto-kun"

After thinking about the byakugan for a few minutes Naruto asks another question "When you say you can see a person's chakra network, can you like, not see that far through a person?"

"W-what do you m-mean N-Naruto-kun?"

With his trademark prankster grin he continues with "can you see through people clothes?" Hinata's eyes go extremely wide and because of this Naruto yells with a playful smile "PERVERT! AHA-HA, HINATA'S A PERVERT!" as he yells this he jumps up and starts running with his grin plastered all over his face. This is the scene that Shikamaru found walking onto the training field with Naruto yelling that out for the world to hear and running away from…a passed out Hinata. Sweat-dropping he yells out to Naruto "You do realise she's not chasing you right?" Naruto stops and turns around "Also Asuma-sensei is probably going to show up pretty soon, so we better wake Hinata up before he gets here…sigh, troublesome teammates…"

:::

Asuma had been watching his team and how they interacted for a while before showing up a little before time. By now Hinata had woken up again and was receiving a hasty apology from Naruto "…I didn't think you'd faint like that Hinata, I thought you'd just try to hit me like Sakura-chan always does when I do something stupid like that, please forgive me, it was an accident after all an I'll even…"

"Sigh, Naruto, if you would shut up for just a minute you'd realise Hinata is trying to say something to you"

"Sorry Shika. What were you saying Hinata?"

"I-it's o-ok n-Naruto, I'm sure y-you didn't mean it, s-so it's a-all ok"

"Oh good, I was worried you might not like me after saying something like that about you or something…"

"_You have no idea how wrong you are Naruto-kun"_

Hinata silently agreed with herself. Asuma chose this moment to finally speak up "ok team ten, ready for your final genin exam?" after receiving a chorus of "hai" he continued "the test is pretty simple in its objective, all you have to do is capture me, but don't think capturing a Jonin who is going to be your sensei is going to be a walk in the park. You guys are most likely going to have to use every trick at your disposal to get anywhere near completing the objective…even then your chances are slim" as he finishes he takes out a cigarette and lights it before taking a puff "You guys can start anytime you know" while still taking a drag.

"No need sensei, Kagemane no jutsu, success" said a slightly bored Shikamaru "is that all that was needed in this test? Because that was pretty easy if it was…"

"Ah, very good Shikamaru, but bunshins don't count as a captured shinobi" as "Asuma" finished he poofed into a cloud of smoke revealing a shadow clone.

"Kage bunshins, how troublesome"

"Quick! Before he gets too far away, let's get him!" at finishing this Naruto bounds off into the forest with Hinata looking about to follow when Shikamaru stops her while shaking his head "Hinata, could you please use your byakugan to find Asuma-sensei before he gets too far away, I'll go get Naruto, the troublesome blond"

"Hai, byakugan!" says Hinata before surveying her surroundings. After about 15 seconds of searching she found Shikamaru trying to get Naruto to stop with Naruto either ignoring him or not hearing him at all. Focusing further along the path he seemed to be taking about 5 seconds later found Asuma. Wondering if Naruto knew which way he was going or if it was just blind luck she sent a reasonable amount of chakra to her legs to try and catch up to her teammates.

About 10 minutes later she caught up to a puffing Shikamaru and an attentive Naruto looking around a clearing they had stopped in. Hinata had long stopped the chakra flow to her eyes returning them to their pale lilac colour. While not as exhausted as Shikamaru she had used a fair amount of her chakra to catch up and was slightly wheezing. "T-thank for *gasp* w-waiting for us *breath* Naruto"

"Oh uh" he said while scratching the back of his head sheepishly "I caught up to him, so I figured I'd wait until you two showed up, because I knew I'd have no chance at capturing a Jonin all on my own even with my kage bunshin no jutsu. I know how tough chunnin are from the time I painted to Hokage monument and Jonin are a rank above that. Yeah I'd have no hope on my own. Besides, Shikamaru is the one with the plans, we should probably let him get his breath back"

"W-what do y-you mean we *huff* c-c-caught up to h-him?"

"Can't you smell his smoke?" Naruto says crinkling his nose in disgust "I followed my nose until I came to this open area where the smell was a bit thicker, every now and then I get a strong whiff from that direction" he points in a seemingly random direction where Asuma is surprised at being found out by the whiskered face boy, even more surprised that he would wait for his teammates to catch up so they could all take him on together

'The longer this test goes for the more surprised I get at them, I'm almost going to have to pass them just on their teamwork I've seen before and after the test begun, but I still need to see their combat effectiveness. I should probably let Shika and Hinata get their breath back a little before I reveal myself, so I can see how good they are without being too exhausted. That kage bunshin took a surprising amount out of me though so the break could do me some good as well. It would suck to actually lose this test simply because the stamina freak on the team outlasts me'

"Hey Shika, came up with a plan yet?"

"This entire test is troublesome, but mum yelling at me for not passing is even more troublesome. Answering your question though I do have a plan…"

:::

_(Five minutes later when Hinata and Shikamaru have their breath back)_

Asuma seeing how his team seems to be almost ready to attack him, steps onto the field "I hope you lot are ready. That was a nice easy tracking portion, now I'm going to see what your skills are in combat." After saying this he pulls out his trench knives and puts them in a ready position.

Naruto simply smirks and puts his hands in a familiar cross symbol "okay guys remember the plan?"

At this his teammates sweatdrop "Naruto you were the only one who had trouble remembering the plan and you had the simplest part to play…" said an incredulous Shikamaru

"Uh, right. KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" after this about 20 Naruto clones appear around the training field and start to attack Asuma 'so he does know the kage bunshin no jutsu and to create so many without feeling too much strain, makes you wonder how much chakra the little squirt has' Asuma was thinking while destroying the clones which were almost constantly being replaced. Roundhouse kicking a clone before dodging a kunai thrown at his left side he sensed a Naruto behind him and as he turned around to destroy it noticed something different about its stance 'wait a minute, why is that clone in a juuken stance? Oh shit!' he realised a fraction of a second too late as Hinata using a henge to look like a Naruto clone, closed a tenketsu located in his left arm before he maned to get out of her range. Breathing slightly heavily at the close call Asuma put his left trench knife away as his left arm was feeling too numb to use it properly. As he did so the area was filled with kage bunshins once more 'seriously, how much chakra DOES this kid have?' Asuma was about to start the bunshin onslaught once more when he found he couldn't move 'what?' before hearing a familiar call out of "kagemane no jutsu, success" Asuma looked at the ground and found he was caught in a shadow and was busy trying to figure out which "clone was henged as Shikamaru before seeing said boy walk out from behind a tree with Asuma making the same movements. "Do you surrender Asuma-sensei?"

Asuma smirked before answering with "Why would I do that now, your chakra wont last forever and when I get out I can keep using you three as a personal punching bag before I get bored"

"Okay don't say we didn't warn you…Naruto, Hinata if you will"

After saying this Hinata released the henge while 6 Naruto clones held Asuma from behind

"i-i-if you d-don't s-s-surrender Shikamaru will r-release the j-jutsu b-before I close your t-tenketsu while N-N-Naruto-kun stops you from m-moving" states Hinata while getting into her families' jyuuken stance.

"I guess there's only one thing I can do…I surrender and announce Team Ten as an official genin squad!" as the newly certified genin release their sensei with a small amount of cheering he continues with "now I hope you guys keep up with that kind of teamwork when you get official missions because no matter how pointless it may seem now, this squad is going to be like a second family, you will learn to trust each other possibly to the point where you know what everyone else is going to do without even glancing at each other. I can only hope…anyway tomorrow we'll meet up for some light training before we go on our first mission. Before we go I just want to congratulate you guys one more time."

A loud cheer from Naruto, a quiet thank you from Hinata and a *sigh* troublesome from Shikamaru team ten then turn to walk away before Naruto was stopped by Asuma's hand on his shoulder as the others walk to their clan homes "hey Naruto, when you turn up tomorrow, can you not wear something that's almost literally got a target painted on your back?"

Looking a little down Naruto replied "I would sensei if I had anything else to wear. The only reason a have a few orange jumpsuits is because old man Hokage gave them to me. Whenever I try and go shopping for clothes every shop throws me out"

"Tell you what Naruto, I'll take you shopping tonight. I mean, if you want your teammates to actually respect you orange is the wrong way to go about it…I'll help you pick out something that will impress your teammates. You might make Hinata's eyes go wide and faint like she did earlier today" Asuma finishes with a leering grin which only succeeds in making Naruto confused as to why he would want to have to wait for his teammate to wake up again...


End file.
